The Department of “Theoretical Mechanics and Strength of Materials” was formed in January 2022 by merging the Departments of “Theoretical Mechanics” and “Mechanics of Solid Media and Strength of Materials”.

Theoretical mechanics at the Kharkiv Institute of Technology (now the National Technical University “Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute”) was taught by world-renowned scientists: academician Oleksandr Lyapunov (from 1887 to 1893) and academician Volodymyr Steklov (from 1893 to 1903). In 1925, the Department of Theoretical Mechanics was established at the Kharkiv Institute of Technology. The first head of the newly created department was professor Ivan Babakov, a well-known scientist in the field of vibration theory. In the future, the department was headed by Professor Viktor Groza (from 1962 to 1977), Professor Volodymyr Karaban (from 1977 to 1995), Professor Oleg Morachkovsky (from 1995 to 2020) and Professor of NTU “KhPI” Volodymyr Adashevskyi (in 2020-21 r.)

The teaching of the Strength of materials as a fundamental engineering discipline was carried out at the Kharkiv Institute of Technology (from 1886 to 1898) by Victor Kyrpychov, an honored professor, one of the most outstanding mechanical scientists, a talented teacher and a well-known public figure, ideologist and organizer of a higher technical school. V. Kirpychov graduated from Artillery Academy (1868). In 1870 –1884, he worked at the St. Petersburg Practical Technological Institute. In 1885 –1898, he was the founder and first director of the Kharkiv Institute of Technology. After V. Kirpychov, Dmytro Zernov (from 1898 to 1902) taught the course on Strength of materials. The first head of the newly created department “Strength of Materials” was Professor Veniamin Blokh (from 1931 to 1950). In the future, the heads of the department were associate professor Kostyantyn Kovalev (from 1950 to 1976), professor of NTU “KhPI” Vadym Bortovyi (from 1976 to 2003), professor Volodymyr Lavinskyi (from 2003 to 2008) and professor of NTU “KhPI” Valery Khavin (from 2008 to 2021).

After the merging, Professor Denys Lavinskyi became the head of the Department of Theoretical Mechanics and Strength of Materials from January 2022.

Main courses for bachelors: Theoretical Mechanics, Technical and Applied Mechanics, Strength of Materials, Biomechanics.

History Of The Department	The staff of the department	Publications